Nice summation here, but I actually have a bit more sympathy for supervisor…. He's not managing a group of upstarts with career-defining goals… he probably has to hear from 10 drug dealers a day, who avoided a longer prison sentence, telling him that they have to leave early because of a sick family member or some…

The Feds were too close to Axe for Hall to keep playing his role. Hall had to disappear — Axe was too "hot." If anything, with Hall not taking his call, Axe then knew just how serious these charges were.

Why sue Chuck? The better play is to sue the culpable criminal who manipulated the stock, and… who is about 25 times richer than Chuck and his Dad put together.

If Chuck's scheme goes according to plan and Axe gets convicted of illegally manipulating the product and the stock, the lawsuits and compensation that all the investors will be entitled to from Axe's "wallet" will be astronomical. They'll get these massive pay outs, and if they didn't sell the stock, they'll profit…

I don't see the entrapment either. Wasn't the Rhoades-Boyd scheme akin to having Chuck suggest to Boyd, "Hey, go tell Axe that my dad just put $8 million under his mattress at home. I hope nothing happens to it…"? If Axe masterminded a break in because of information someone told him, the crime is all on him.

Was it ever stated on this show which milestone birthday Axe was celebrating?

I very much enjoyed this post because its analogies clarify the precise angles of so many of these characters. Most of us, myself included, are comfortable to go through life wanting just not to lose… we don't have the drive, passion, pathology, guts?, conscience? … whatever… to "crush." Maybe we see ourselves as part…

As all the dudes in this series are driven by testosterone and ego, the wrestling makes sense, but yes, Chuck should be more concerned with spending time on an exercise bike than getting tips from a wrestling coach.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking this… I have what would be considered a "chump" job compared to Axe and Chuck, and I feel 24-hour days are too short… Are we supposed to assume that folks who hold potions like Chuck and Axe go to sleep at 1am and rise at 5am everyday?

You're putting the cart before the horse here. Richie is starting Alibi Records on the back of the drained-out American Century. The only two people at the label who know about "disco" and its potential are two mailroom dudes.

Maury Gold likes the "oldies," because he controls the recordings and the publishing. He's in for more than the artist, probably.

Richie stated that he doesn't think the album will need a single or AM-radio airplay to guarantee its success. He is still banking on this LP selling in high numbers. He's got a company running on fumes at the moment. He knows he needs a runaway hit.

Would the NYPD in 1973 just randomly take the initiative to shut down a rock show because some mope shouted "fuck" from the stage? No, probably not. But, if they received a call, they now have cause to make the collar. That said, the NYPD would have probably bull-horned it from the side of the stage and given the band…

What you say is true, but I could see these being Richie's last words: "Mr. Galasso, you don't understand, we still have no money, but we have an awesomely hip reputation now."

Hold on — Richie just borrowed $100k (in 1973 dollars) from a well-known murderous gangster and all his time, energy, and passion is going to be focused on "reputation"? I'm not buying that — Richie thinks this LP is going to sell and put the company back into the black. He really doesn't have that much time to…

If the show wants to still hold any thread of reality, once that Nasty Bits' LP hits the shops across the USA, it should tank and end up in the cut-out bins within the year. There's no way the writers can weave in a hit LP in 1973 with a band like that. And, if they did, the writers would have to acknowledge that the…

Whether or not that Nasty Bits' LP ends up being the most
forward-thinking, groundbreaking album ever to be pressed to plastic,
for reality's sake, I hope it is shown to die right on the racks of,
say, every King Karol store in NYC in 1974. As cool as this show wants
to be, there's no way the Nasty Bits LP even comes…

Good point here. In Mad Men, we followed Don through his genius and his mania. Here, Richie's real "talent" is all backstory and hearsay. We haven't followed him through any redeemable event.

“'We put two spaces after a period on all our documents. It looks a lot
cleaner on the page.' Confirmed: Davis & Main is an evil place full
of evil people." What? That's "evil"? I'm guessing this is sarcasm considering we just watched an episode featuring the Salamancas.

Cliff is a dick? He's a partner in a law firm who probably took all the risk to build its reputation and success, and he would like the partners to sign off on all marketing/sales material that goes out to potential customers — That makes him a dick? He didn't shoot down Jimmy's idea, he just wanted to approve it…